The recovery may be slow and measured elsewhere, but a new research report from Colliers International shows that top tier retail corridors around the world are seeing huge spikes in rental rates.
Colliers researchers estimate that in more than half of the 129 top global retail locations it surveyed rents posted year-over-year increases. Four of the world's top 10 retail destinations experienced rental increases of more than 30 percent, including New York's Madison Avenue, where average rents went up 39.7 percent since 2011, to $989 per sq. ft.
What's more, the make-up of the top 10 retail streets might be undergoing a significant tranformation, as this year three of the 10 streets are in Asia, specifically Hong Kong. In fact, Colliers ranked Hong Kong's Queens Road Central and Canton Road as the second and third most expensive retail streets in the world, at $1,831 per sq. ft. The only street that ranked higher was New York's Fifth Avenue, with rents of $2,633 per sq. ft.
In fact, Hong Kong's retail market is now the world's most expensive, according to a new report from CBRE. In the first quarter, retail rents in the city averaged $3,864 per sq. ft., higher than New York's average rent of $2,475 per sq. ft. Sydney came in third as the world's most expensive city for retail, with average rent of $1,112 per sq. ft., according to CBRE research.
To read the full Colliers report, click here. For the full CBRE report, click here.